Researchers unveil urine-based ovarian cancer test using nanopore sensing and identifying peptides, promising improved early detection.
Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators have discovered a protein expressed on multiple myeloma cancer cells that drives disease growth and development. The new study found that blocking part of the protein’s unique signaling pathway stops myeloma growth in culture and in laboratory mice. Their study was published in the journal Cancer Research.
The protein studied, called ephrin B2, is a powerful new target in the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma, a disease that has numerous partially effective treatments, but no cure. Based on these findings, investigators are now working on the development of therapies to target this protein in patients.
Myeloma cells grow inside a patient’s bone marrow. Unlike many types of cancer cells, multiple myeloma cells cannot live outside the patient, meaning they rely on signals from the patient’s healthy cells in order to grow. Investigators sought to determine the source of that signal as a potential way to block myeloma cells’ growth.
More young people are getting colorectal, breast, and cervical cancers. An expert recommended knowing your family history and advocating for yourself.
Terahertz radiation has several advantages over other imaging modalities, such as X-rays and ultrasound. It is non-ionizing, meaning it does not damage the cells or tissues of the body. It is also sensitive to water, which makes it ideal for detecting skin cancers, as they tend to have different water content and blood supply than normal skin.
Professor MacPherson and her team at the Department of Physics are developing a screening device that uses terahertz frequencies to scan the skin and produce high-resolution images that can identify suspicious lesions. The device is portable, fast, and easy to use and could be deployed in clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies.
Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Donnelly Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Research have found nearly one million new exons—stretches of DNA that are expressed in mature RNA—in the human genome.
The findings were published in the journal Genome Research.
There are around 20,000 protein-coding genes in humans that contain approximately 180,000 known internal exons. These protein-coding regions account for only one percent of the entire human genome. The vast majority of what remains is a mystery—aptly referred to as the “dark genome.”
From ‘inverse vaccines’ to repurposed cancer therapies, several potential cures for autoimmune diseases are showing serious promise.
Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have unveiled a revolutionary method to study the microscopic structures of the human brain. The study, led by Benjamin Creekmore in the labs of Yi-Wei Chang and Edward Lee, promises to enhance our understanding of various brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis.
Cryo-electron tomography takes center stage
Traditionally, scientists have utilized electron microscopy to explore and comprehend the intricate details of cellular structures within the brain. However, this method has been fraught with challenges, such as the alteration of cell structures due to the addition of chemicals and physical tissue cutting.
Australian researchers have worked out how to fix a defect that causes lupus, and hope their world-first discovery will offer effective long-term treatment.
Published in Nature Communications, the Monash University-led study found a way to reprogram the defective cells of lupus patients with protective molecules from healthy people.
Using human cells, the new treatment restores the protective side of the immune system that prevents autoimmunity, which is when the immune system attacks its own cells. The findings relate to the autoimmune disease lupus, a debilitating disease with no cure and limited treatments.
Patients with recurrent Escherichia coli bacteremia can harbor strains with mutations that promote multidrug antibiotic resistance:
Certain patients with gram-negative bacterial bloodstream infections (GNB-BSIs) are well-known to experience recurrent bacteremia after receiving antimicrobial therapy — but is this phenomenon due to microbial factors? Researchers have analyzed isolates from patients with relapsed GNB-BSIs in which the initial and subsequent strains were nearly identical genetically.
Paired bacteremic isolates of E. coli, Klebsiella species, Serratia marcescens, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were identified for a detailed analysis of the E. coli strains. Time-kill studies found that 4 of the 11 recurrent isolates had a higher number of bacterial colony-forming units persisting through 24 hours of exposure to meropenem. The recurrent strain with the greatest number of persisting cells had a loss-of-function mutation in the ptsI gene (involved in the phosphoenolpyruvate phosphotransferase system and shown in vitro to be important to the effects of bactericidal antibiotics). Challenging mice with the initial and ptsI mutant recurrent strains in a bacteremia model showed that both variants were equally virulent, but the recurrent strain was 10-fold less susceptible to treatment with ertapenem.
Climate change and increasingly extreme weather conditions are predicted to wreak havoc with humanity’s food security. But hopefully, at least tomatoes will stay safe.
Researchers from Tel Aviv University have succeeded in cultivating tomato varieties that consume less water as they grow without compromising on yield, quality or taste, using CRISPR genome editing technology.
Their study, which contributes to growing efforts to ensure food security in a world of diminishing freshwater resources, was recently published in the journal PNAS.
